Fred's photos from Wheaton Labs

A few more late bloomers. These were all on the berms at the abbey.

The first couple of photos are of some calendula flowers from a couple of different spots.

Third photo is a pea blossom.

Fourth photo is red clover.

Mushrooms from my plot. They are are probably matte Jack (Suillus lakei), mycorrhizal mushrooms that associate with Douglas firs. They are edible, but opinions vary on whether or not they are palatable.

Here are some bird's nest fungi. The first few photos are from a species growing in the greenhouse. The last one is from a species growing on my plot. These fungi break down wood and other organic matter in the soil. When mature, the "nests" open up. When a raindrop (or water from a watering can) lands in the nest, it splashes out carrying an "egg" with it, sometimes as much as a meter away. It is thought that some of these species depend on browsing or grazing animals to eat the "egg"  that has landed on a plant, and spread the spores in their manure.

The first photo shows a grouping of nests before they open.

The second photo shows open nests with some black eggs inside.

The third photo shows mostly empty nests that have dispersed their eggs.

The fourth photo shows open nests with some white eggs inside of a slightly different looking nest. These fungi are quite small as you can see by the fir needle in the upper left of the photo.

Here's another late bloomer...sort of. It is the hairy evening primrose (Oenothera villosa). I only found a few flower buds. Most were dried and open seed capsules spreading the next generation of plants. But the part i like best at this time of year is the basal rosette. It is a biennial plant and next year these will send up flower stalks. I love how the leaves overlap in a never ending spiral.

Its leaves, flowers, and seeds have been used widely for a variety of medicinal uses. The roots have traditionally been eaten roasted or boiled like potatoes. The leaves were used as a potherb. Flowers are eaten raw in salads.

Snow flurries today. Lots more cold and snow in the forecast. Only one day next week will make it above freezing. To celebrate the beauty of snow, i took some snowflake photos on my plot today.

Imagine a tiny sesame seed with legs. When i first saw these bugs i thought they were just the bleached exoskeleton of a dead bug. Then i saw the legs. I took pictures of the biggest ones, which were maybe the size of a sesame seed, but most were actually about 1/4 or 1/5 that size. When i first saw them there were about 10 or so all within a few feet of each other. It took me a few days before i found more of them. Maybe they are everywhere and i just noticed them in a couple of spots, but they seemed to just be where there was a lot of conifer bark mulch. They were out after a rain, when the humidity was high. They were very slow moving.

Someone suggested to me that they are ensign scales in the family Ortheziidae.  Of course,  being small, they are not widely known or studied.  

The first photo shows a group of mushrooms i found on my plot. These are dumping so many spores the air currents have deposited a layer of white spores across one side of the cap of the big one.

The second photo shows the side view of this clump. There is a little strand of spider web hanging under the cap and it looks to be covered in clumps of white spores from this mushroom.

The third and fourth photos show a massive mushroom i found on my plot. It was laying in the brush loose, with no base in sight. I guess a squirrel had picked it and was working on moving it somewhere, after nibbling a little. This mushroom was heavy! The stipe was solid and dense.

Yesterday i was able to help Stephen with his tent again. He bought a wood stove to make it a little warmer in there. So, we installed some silicone gaskets to get the stovepipe through the tent and rain fly. Feels a little wrong to cut a hole in a perfectly good, brand new, tent. Luckily, Stephen was the one holding the knife. The gasket has small bolts to hold it in place, before you make the big hole. First we installed the one through the tent material then made a matching hole in the rain fly for a second gasket. Stephen bought a section of insulated stove pipe to pass through those spots. Everything looks good, and Stephen reports that it is burning well.

the Mystery Plant  FREDDY is this ------------Hyoscyamus niger, known commonly as henbane, is a plant whose multifaceted nature has a long history of use in Europe.

Plant Classification

Common Name Henbane, Hogbean

Family:
Solanaceae
Genus: Hyoscyamus
Species: H. niger

“My teeth were clenched and a dizzy rage took possession of me…I was permeated by a peculiar sense of well-being connected with the crazy sensation that my feet were growing lighter, expanding and breaking loose from my body. Each part of my body seemed to be going off on its own, and I was seized with the fear that I was falling apart. At the same time, I experienced an intoxicating sensation of flying…I soared where my hallucinations—the clouds, the lowering sky, herds of beasts, falling leaves…billowing streamers of steam and rivers of molten metal—were swirling along.”  

In 1966, the German writer Gustav Schenk wrote the above after experiencing a hallucination from breathing in the smoke of burning henbane seeds (Mann 2000). Henbane is a toxic plant that has an interesting caveat: different doses of the plant extracts can produce wildly different results in the human body.

One of these results is an hallucinatory experience, as Gustav Schenk can attest to. All parts of henbane–roots, leaves, seeds, flowers–contain alkaloids (Alizadeh et al. 2014). Alkaloids are nitrogen-containing chemicals that some plants produce to defend themselves from herbivores (Lambers et al. 2008). Henbane is a powerhouse of them: 34 alkaloids have been discovered in the plant (Alizadeh et al. 2014). The alkaloids in henbane that scientists understand the most are hyoscine, hyoscyamine, and atropine (see figures for chemical structures) (Alizadeh et al. 2014). They have been shown to depress the central and peripheral nervous systems in humans by interfering with neuron receptors (Alizadeh et al. 2014). This interference leads to such side-effects as hallucinations, lethargy, and delirium (Alizadeh et al. 2014). Historically in Europe (where henbane is native), these side-effects were used in the mystical aspects of religious ceremonies. Priestesses of the Delphic oracle in ancient Greece breathed in the smoke of burning henbane to become soothsayers (Mann 2000). In the Middle Ages, henbane was associated with witchcraft (Mann 2000). During this time, it was discovered that the extracts of henbane could be easily absorbed through the skin if they were mixed with fat (Mann 2000). Higher doses could be administered because the extracts did not go through the gut, significantly reducing the risk of poisoning (Mann 2000). Andres Laguna, a physician to Pope Julius III, in 1545 wrote about the hallucinogenic salves that were made:

“…a jar half-filled with a certain green unguent…with which they were anointing themselves…was composed of herbs…which are hemlock, nightshade, henbane, and mandrake” (Mann 2000).

These salves were applied to where the skin was thin, such as the rectum, vagina, or armpits (Paulsen 2010). Vivid episodes of flying or falling characterized the hallucinations (Mann 2000). The folklore of witches flying is believed to have originated from this aspect (Mann 2000). There are accounts in Norway that these hallucinating women were considered sorcerers and were burned at the stake (Paulsen 2010). For a heavily dramatic retelling of henbane’s role in witchcraft (and volunteers consuming henbane!), view the 1998 British television documentary here.

Chemical structure of atropine

Chemical structure of atropine
Chemical structure of hyoscyamine

Chemical structure of hyoscyamine
Chemical structure of hyoscine

Chemical structure of hyoscine



















Overdoses of henbane can cause the second type of “side-effect”: immediate death. The alkaloids in the plant can overstimulate the central nervous system, leading to convulsions, manic episodes, heart arrhythmia, apnea, and coma (Alizadeh et al. 2014). The seizure-like death is ghastly and painful. One account reports that Cleopatra was considering using henbane as a method of suicide, but was aghast at how it killed her servants (they were unfortunately her test subjects) (Mann 2000). In the end, she opted for asp’s venom (Mann 2000). These overdoses are relatively easy to achieve: four flowers of henbane consumed by a small child are enough to induce severe symptoms (Alizadeh et al. 2014).

The fascinating aspect of henbane is that, despite all of the above, the plant has been long prized for its medicinal properties and is seen today by the medical community as a very important source of new drugs. This is the odd nature of henbane: in low doses it can be very beneficial. The ancient Greeks and Romans prized henbane for its soporific, sedative, and analgesic qualities, and doctors of the time prescribed the plant commonly (Ramoutsaki et al. 2002). The Roman Dioscorides (CE 77) listed henbane for pain relief in his famous herbal De Materia Medica (Mann 2000). Audacious doctors of the time discovered that the anaesthetic properties of henbane were greatly increased by mixing the plant with opium (Ramoutsaki et al. 2002). One Byzantine writer specified ingesting the skin of the fish narki that had been smeared with the ground paste of opium and henbane to relieve ear inflammation (Ramoutsaki et al. 2002).  As one can imagine, the dose of henbane administered in the above manner is hard to control. Accidental intoxications were common at the time (Alizadeh et al. 2014).
By Roger Culos (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

Dried seeds and flowers of H. niger. Photo by Roger Culos (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

Very precise and pure doses of henbane extracts are used in modern medicine. Extracts from the seeds can be used to dilate the bronchi of individuals with respiratory disorders or to relax overactive urinary bladders (Gilani et al. 2008). The commercial drug Transderm Scop uses the alkaloid hyoscine derived from henbane to treat motion sickness (Alizadeh et al. 2014). Henbane is even used for treating Parkinson’s disease in Ayurveda (Sengupta et al. 2011). A recent study supported this by showing that methanol extracts from the seeds of henbane reduced seizures, body rigidity, and loss of voluntary movement in mice by preventing the generation of the free radical OH in the mitochondria of the mice’s cells. (Sengupta et al. 2011). These three broad outcomes from using henbane–hallucinations, death, and medicine–are ironically antithetical and merely functions of the levels of dosage, making henbane a fascinating wonder of a plant.

References:

Alizadeh, A., Moshiri, M., Alizadeh, J., Balali-Mood, M. 2014. Black henbane and its toxicity – a descriptive review. Avicenna Journal of Phytomedicine [Internet]. [cited 21 Jan 2017]; 4(5), 297–311. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4224707/

Gilani, A. H., Khan, A. U., Raoof, M., Ghayur, M. N., Siddiqui, B. S., Vohra, W., Begum, S. 2008. Gastrointestinal, selective airways and urinary bladder relaxant effects of Hyoscyamus niger are mediated through dual blockade of muscarinic receptors and Ca2+ channels. Fundamental & clinical pharmacology [Internet]. [cited 21 Jan 2017]; 22(1), 87-99. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1472-8206.2007.00561.x/full

Lambers H, Chapin FS, Pons TL. 2008. Ecological biochemistry: allelopathy and defense against herbivores. In: Plant Physiological Ecology. New York (NY): Springer. p. 445-477.

Mann, J. 2000. Murder, magic, and medicine. New York (NY): Oxford University Press.

Paulsen BS. 2010. Highlights through the history of plant medicine. Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters [Internet]. [cited 21 Jan 2017]. Available from http://www.dnva.no/binfil/download.php?tid=48677

Ramoutsaki, I.A., Askitopoulou, H., Konsolaki, E. 2002. Pain relief and sedation in Roman Byzantine texts: Mandragoras officinarum, Hyoscyamos niger, and Atropa belladonna. In International Congress Series [Internet]. [cited 21 Jan 2017]; Vol. 1242, pp. 43-50. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0531-5131(02)00699-4

Sengupta, T., Vinayagam, J., Nagashayana, N. et al. 2011. Antiparkinsonian effects of aqueous methanolic extract of Hyoscyamus niger seeds result from its monoamine oxidase inhibitory and hydroxyl radical scavenging potency. Neurochem Res. [Internet]. [cited 21 Jan 2017]; 36: 177. Available from: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11064-010-0289-xystery Plant is this :

George, you must mean the picture in my second post. We figured out what that was several years ago, i just didn't go back to edit that post.

Here's some puffballs from my plot, before the recent snowfall. None of them seemed quite mature. I think the holes in the tops of a few might be from bugs that were munching on them. Usually when i find a mature puffball, i'll pick it and puff the spores all over the fronts of my boots. That way the spores will continue to spread as i walk and brush up against plants.

They look kinda like they could be Lycoperdon perlatum, but i'm not totally sure.

One of these got kicked over and smooshed before i got there.